Plot summary
Trapped in a timeless city governed by all the old gods of Earth, D'Molay is a tracker who works for the Gods. He makes a fateful choice to assist a hapless girl early in the story. He then begins to suspect she has some kind of connection to a huge beast ravaging the Olympian realm. D'Molay is torn between his duty to the eternal world and the leading of his heart. His compulsion to protect her pits the wits of a man against the guile of the gods, rekindling a faith he had long ago forgotten. In theory, any of the gods of old could appear in the City of the Gods. Some of the deities that appear include the Greco/Roman Gods Zeus, Eros, Zephyrus, Ares, Hermes & Glaucus. Egyptian gods Set and Sekhmet and Babylonian gods include Lamasthu and Namtar. Also various Chinese, Norse, Indian, Mayan and African gods are featured as the story unfolds. The gods are portrayed very much as they appeared in classical mythology, but each exhibits their own personalities and motivations.
The book deals with issues of trust, faith and the loss of both. There are also strong hints as to why the gods left Earth and the exploration of the different classes of inhabitants in realm of the Gods. (Slaves, merchants, freeman, priests and deities).
Other City of the Gods Universe works
A promotional City of the Gods: Forgotten chapbook released in 2010 received a Silver award from the Arizona/New Mexico division of the Printing Industries of America for printing excellence. This preview of the novel was released for Amazon Kindle in October 2010.
In July 2011 Flying Buffalo Inc. released the City of the Gods Map Pack. This product in the Catalyst (role-playing game supplements) line contains a large full-color map of the City of the Gods, a map of the surrounding lands, a booklet that describes important buildings in the City, and 18 full-color character cards. Most of the characters and places described in the Map Pack are taken directly from the first novel and other locations and events from the City of the Gods Universe.
A digital comic book entitled The Last Goddess #1 was released in October 2011 and a limited edition print version of the title was released in March 2012. Also written by Verne and Mercere, it take place in the City of the Gods Universe . The story is not directly related to events in the novel, but does reference concepts of the fantasy world. The second comic in the digital line, "Pantheon #1 - Death of the Gods" was released in April 2012. Another digital comic, "Pantheon #2 - Aftermath of Valhalla" and the illustrated story "Pantheon #3 - The Final Chapter" were released in June 2012. This stand-alone series is a prequel to events in the novels and anthology and features major characters from the City of the Gods Universe.
Art of the Gods, a companion book by Steve Crompton, was released in July 2013 in both digital and print formats. This publication by the art director of all the City of the Gods Universe products features full-color reproduction of selected illustrations from the novels and discusses the technical aspects of producing the art. Text includes an introduction by Wynn Mercere and commentary by M.Scott Verne.
A City of the Gods: Ambassador chapbook was published in 2017. This preview of the third novel was also released at drivethrucomics.com in May 2017.
Forgotten Realms is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy role-playing game. Commonly referred to by players and game designers alike as "The Realms", it was created by game designer Ed Greenwood around 1967 as a setting for his childhood stories. Several years later, Greenwood brought the setting to publication for the D&D game as a series of magazine articles, and the first Realms game products were released in 1987. Role-playing game products have been produced for the setting ever since, as have various licensed products including novels, role-playing video game adaptations, comic books, and an upcoming film.
The drow or dark elves are a dark-skinned and white-haired subrace of elves connected to the subterranean Underdark in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game. The drow have traditionally been portrayed as generally evil and connected to the evil goddess Lolth. However, later editions of Dungeons & Dragons have moved away from this portrayal and preassigned alignment. More recent publications have explored drow societies unconnected to Lolth.
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The Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting is a role-playing game sourcebook first published by TSR in 1987 for the first edition of the fantasy role-playing game Advanced Dungeons & Dragons that describes the campaign setting of the Forgotten Realms. It contains information on characters, locations and history. Various revised and updated editions have been produced over the years.
The Norse mythology, preserved in such ancient Icelandic texts as the Poetic Edda, the Prose Edda, and other lays and sagas, was little known outside Scandinavia until the 19th century. With the widespread publication of Norse myths and legends at this time, references to the Norse gods and heroes spread into European literary culture, especially in Scandinavia, Germany, and Britain. In the later 20th century, references to Norse mythology became common in science fiction and fantasy literature, role-playing games, and eventually other cultural products such as Japanese animation. Storytelling was an important aspect of Norse mythology and centuries later, with the rediscovery of the myth, Norse mythology once again relies on the impacts of storytelling to spread its agenda.
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Wynn Mercere is a pen name adopted in 2010 by writer Debora Wykle / Debora Kerr for the City of the Gods: Forgotten fantasy novel, comics and short story anthology series published by Raven Press, the City of the Gods Map Pack in the Catalyst role-playing game line published by Flying Buffalo, the 2015 magical realism novel Utopea and 2016's historical horror novel Mother of Ghosts published by Raven Press. Kerr is a writer of fiction and non-fiction as well as an editor and designer of scenarios for role playing games. Mercere's novel, City of the Gods: Forgotten, has over 80 illustrations.
Steven S. Crompton is a Canadian-born artist, author and designer who has worked in the role-playing and comic genres since 1981. In the gaming industry he is best known as the artist for the Grimtooth's Traps books as well as other Catalyst role-playing game supplements, Tunnels & Trolls and the Nuclear War card game.
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